Defintion & References for Effeminacy

[WHEELER]

From the 20 Volume set of The Oxford English Dictionary.  500 years of references are attached to this meaning of the word; from 1393 A.D. to 1881 A. D.  There are 74 references from English literature for this word and its equivalents.  {This is not a catalogue of every instance of the word.}

 

effeminacy.  Also 6 effeminaty [f. EFFEMINATE a.:see acy]

 

1.       Effeminate quality; Unmanly weakness, softness, or delicacy.

 

1602 WARNER Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 360 Findingthe Britons alienated from themselues through ease and effeminacie.

1626 T. H. Caussins Holy Crt. 13 A spirit soothed with its owne Effeminaty.

1711 STEELE Spect. No. 104 2 His Features, Complexion, and Habit had a remarkable Effeminacy.

1763 J. BROWN Poetry & Mus. 7. 153 Their coarse manners melted gradually into false Politeness and Effeminacy.

a1876 J. H. NEWMAN Hist. Sk. I.I.iv. 172 A barborous people, possessed of a beautiful country, may be relaxed in luxury and effeminacy.

 

2. (Cf. EFFEMINATE a. 3.) Obs.

 

1642 CHAS. I. Declar. Soldiers at Southamp. 21 Oct. 6 Avoid excessive drinking and effeminacy (by some esteemed the property of a souldier.)

1671 MILTON Samson 410 But foul effeminacy held me yokt Her Bond-Slave.

 

Effeminate a. and sb. [as. Latin. effemiat-us, f. effemina-re, f. ex out + femina woman.] A. adj.

 

1. Of persons:  That has become like a woman:

a. Womanish, unmanly, enervated, feeble; self-indulgent, voluptuous; unbecomingly delicate or over-refined.  Also (Obs.) absol. (cf. quot. 1609 in B.)

(The two first quots. May possible belong to 3).

 

c1430 LYDG. Bochas III. V. (1554) 77a, It isthe moste perilous thyng A prince to been of his condicion Effeminate.

1534 LD. BERNERS Gold. BK. M. Aurel. (1546) E viij, An effeminate persone neuer hathe spirite to any hie or noble dedes.

1549 Compl. Scot. Xi (1873) 25 Effemenete men sal be ther dominatours.

1555 EDEN Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 50 The sclendernesse of theyr capacitie and effeminate hartes.

1625 K. LONG tr. Barclays Argenis IV. Xxii. 319 But a Souldiers death shall make amends for thy effeminate life.

1748 ANSON Voy. II. Xiv. (ed. 4) 386 A Luxurious and effeminate race.

1841 W. SPALDING Italy & It. Isl. I. 107 This stepenabled the Germanic soldiers to compare themselves with the effeminate troops of the south.

 

  absol. quasi-sb. 1609 BIBLE (Douay) Prov xviii. 8 The soules of the effeminate shal be hungrie.  1692 DRYDEN tr. St. Evremonts Ess. 162 A softness, wherein for the most part languish the Effeminate.

 

b. Of things:  Characterized by, or proceeding from, unmanly weakness, softness, or delicacy.

 

1579 GOSSON Sch. Abuse(Arb.) 32 Effeminate gesture to rauish the sence.

1591 SHAKS. I Hen. VI, V. iv. 107 Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?

1685 CROWNE Sir C. Nice v. 49, I scorn those effeminate revenges.  If I hurt any man it shall be with my sword.

1776 GIBBON Decl. & Fall I. 148 Rome washumbled beneath the effeminate luxury of Oriental despostism.

1839 H. ROGERS Ess. (1874) II.iii. 149 They would sooner employthe most effeminate circumlocution than resort to a homely term or phrase.

 

c. Without implying reproach:  Gentle, tender, compassionate. Obs.

 

1594 NASHE Unfort. Trav. 26  Their handes had no leasure to aske counsel of their effeminate eyes.

1594 SHAKS. Rich III, III. vii. We know your tenderness of hear, And gentle kinde effeminate remorse.

 

d. Of music, odours, etc.: Soft, voluptuous. Obs.

 

1674 PLAYFORD Skill Mus. I. 61 The Ionick Mood was more light and effeminate Musick.

1692 O. WALKER Hist. Illustrated 77 The Myrtlebecause of its Effeminate smell, etc.

 

Used for :  Feminine, characteristic of women.

 

1549 OLDE Erasm. Par. I Timothy ii. 9 Nowe let the women also praye after thesample of the men.  Yf there be any effeminate affection [Lat. Si quid est in animo muliebrium affectuum] in their stomakes, let them caste it out.

 

2. Physically weak, delicate. Obs.

 

1652 FRENCH Yorksh. Spa x. 91, Iadvise those that have effeminate stomachs to take off the cold from the water before they drink it.

 

3.  The notion self-indulgent, voluptuous(see 1) seems sometimes to have received a special colouring from a pseudo-etymological rendering of the word as devoted to women.  Unequivocal instances are rare; cf. quot. 1430 in 1; also EFFEMINACY 2; EFFEMINATENESS 2. OBS.

 

1490 CAXTON Eneydos xvi. 55 Man effeminate [Virgil uxorious] without honour rauysshed in to dileecttation femynyne.

1589 PUTTENHAM Eng. Poesie II (Arb.) 146 The king was supposed to bevery amorous and effeminate.

 

4.  Used as pa. pple. Of EFFEMINATE, v. Sc. Obs.

 

1536 BELLENDEN Cron. Scot., How strangpepill grew in our regioun afore they were effeminate with lust.

a1560 ROLLAND Crt. Venus III. 619 How mony men hes it effeminate.

 

B. sb. And effeminate person. b. spec. (see quot. 1609)

 

1597 DANIEL Civ. Wars I. 70 This wanton young effeminate [Richard II.]

1609 BIBLE (Douay) I Kings xiv. 24 Effeminates [Vulg. Effeminate, 1611 Sodomites] were in the land.

1784 COWPER Task II. 223 With a just disdain Frown at effeminates.

1860 W. WEBB in Medical Times 15 Sept. 266/2 Soft-handed effeminates.

 

effeminate, v. [ad. Latin effeminatus, pa. pple. Of effeminare (see EFFEMINATE a.). Cf. French effeminer.]

 

1. trans.  To make into a woman; to represent as a woman.  Obs. Rare.

 

1678 CUDWORTH  Intell. Syst. 493 They effeminated the Air and attributed it to Juno.

1739 CIBBER Apol. (1756) I. 90 Till the male Queen coud be effeminated [i.e. till the actor playing that part could be shaved].

 

2.  To make womanish or unmanly; to enervate.

 

1551-6 ROBINSON tr. Mores Utop. (Arb.) 40 It is not to be feared lest they shoulde be effeminated, if thei were brought vp in good craftes.

1577 HANMER Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1585) 155 He effeminated his souldiers with all kind of delicacy and lasciuisousnesse.

1579 GOSSEN Sch. Abuse (1841) 19 Bringing sweet comfortes into Theaters which rather effeminate the minde.

1676 SHADWELL Libertine iv. II, Luxurious livingEffeminates fools in body.

1699 T. C[OCKMAN] Tullys Offices (1706) 61 note, A Stream which was said to effeminate those that washed in it.

1758 Herald II. 252 If the too free admission of wealthcouldeffeminate their manners.

1829 SOUTHEY Sir T. More II. 236 Luxury has not effeminated them.

 

3. intr. To become womanish; to grow weak, languish.

 

1393 GOWER Conf. III. 236 To seen a man from his estate Through his soty effeminate And leve that a man shall do.

1612 Bacon Greatness Kingd., Ess. 239 In a slothfull peace both courages will effeminate, and manners corrupt.

 

effeminated ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED.] a. Rendered womanish or unmanly. b. Reduced to the employments of a woman. C.? Degraded by subjection to a woman.

 

1611 SPEED Hist. Gr. Brit. IX. iii38 His chiefest Consorts were Effeminated persons, Ruffians and the like.

1619 H. HUTTON Follies Anat. 24 See Omphale, her effeminated king Basely captive, make him doe any thing.

1726 DE FOE Hist. Devil I. Iv, The effeminated Male Apple eater [Adam]

 

effeminately, adv.

 

1. In an effeminate or unmanly manner or style.

 

1528 TYNDALE Obed. Chr. Man. In Wks. (1573) 143 That white rocherte that the Byshopsweare so like a Nunne, and so effeminately.

1555 EDEN Decades W. Ind. III.1. (Arb.) 138 Effeminately decked.

1611 COTGR., Laschementcoldly, faintly, effeminately

1638 BRATHWAIT Hist. Surv. (1651) 306 A youth too curiously and effeminately drest.

1697 POTTER Antiq. Greece (1715) I.I. xxvi 172 If any onetake hire for him [a Boy] to be effeminately embraced.

1701 W. WOTTON Hist. Rome 359 The Roman Soldiers had lived too effeminately to fight well.

1836 MARRYAT Olla Podr. xxv, Theyareavery effeminately built race.

1881 J. HAWTHORNE Fort. Fool I. Xix, Hes not effeminately lovely.

 

2.? Through degrading passion for a woman.

 

1671 MILTON Samson 562 To let in the foe, Effeminately vanquished.

 

effeminateness

 

1. The quality or condition of being effeminate or womanish; unmanly softness or weakness.

 

1581 SIDNEY Apol. Poetrie (Arb) 59 An Artnot of effeminateness, but ofstirring of courage.

1639 FULLER Holy War II. xxvii. (1840) 84 They sent a distaff and a spindleas upbraiding their effeminateness.

1670 LASSELS Voy. Italy (1698) Pref. 19 My young traveler should leave behind himall effeminateness.

1812 H. C. ROBINSON Diary 17 June in Earle Philol. Eng. Tong. 322 His sensibilityis in danger of being mistaken for effeminateness.

 

2. (Cf. EFFEMINATE a. 3.) Obs.

 

1648 HEXHAM Dutch Dict. (1660) Verwijvinge, effeminatenesse, or given to women.

 

 

effeminating, vbl. sb. The action or process of rendering effeminate; unmanly softening or weakening.

 

1555 EDEN Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 190 They make rather to theffeminatynge of the myndes of men.

1710 LADY M. W. MONTAGUE Lett. lxvii. II. 110 We are permitted no books but such as tend to theeffeminating of the mind.

 

effeminating, ppl. a. Making effeminate or unmanly; enervating.

 

1676 WYCHERLEY Pl. Dealer III. I, Thou art as hard to shake off as thateffeminating mischief, love.

1757 Herald (1758) I.91 Effeminating luxury.

1860 EMERSON Cond. Life (1861) 121, Ifind the religions of menunmanly and effeminating.

 

effemination, [ad. Latin effemination-em] The process of rendering or of becoming effeminate.

 

1650 SIR T. BROWNE, Pseud. Ep. (ed. 2) 120 [The hare] figureddegenerous effemination.

1684 tr. Bonets Merc. Compit. I. 36, I know a place in the Bellywhich, if burnt [with moxa], a certain Effemination follows, without hope of recovering a mans Virility.

 

effeminator. Obs. Rare. He who, or that which, renders effeminate.

 

1630 BRATHWAIT Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 279 That Effeminatour both of youth and age, Delicacy of apparel.

 

effeminize, v. Now rare. trans. To render effeminate or womanish in character or appearance. 

 

c1612 SYLVESTER Du Bartas (1621) 1083 His braue Knights effeminizd by Sloath.

1616 R.C. Times Whis. iii. 970 A lovelockeDoth the lewd wearer quite effeminize.

1836 DONALDSON Theat. Greeks (ed. 4) 376 The tragic poetseffeminized them. 

1863 Blaskw. Mag. Sept. 269 [Pope] is consideredto haveeffeminized Drydens style.

 

Hence effeminzed ppl. a., effeminizing ppl. a.

 

1824 Blackw. Mag. XVI. 162 Enthusiasminspiredby the effeminizing sensuality of Moore.

1881 LD. LYTTON in 19th C. Nov. 769 Our present somewhat effeminized civilization.  Ibid. 774 It tends to encourageand effeminizing influence in English poetry.

 

[evmori]

Hey Wheeler

Blow it our your ear hole!

[Twocubdad]

Dude: there are two things you have failed to notice. 1) no one has disagreed with your definition of effeminate. A 20-volume dictionary and 74 references from literature are not necessary. I've got a $4.95 paperback American Heritage Dictionary here which provides essentially the same definition. 2) No one cares.

 

Please quit wasting our time and Scouter.com's resources.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, meow.

(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[WHEELER]

This is provided as a reference for boys and men for the context of the word effeminate. Lord Baden-Powell and the people of his time were VERY familiar with this word. They were formed with this word constantly in their literature!!!!! This word had meaning and had a powerful influence in Victorian culture!

 

Take for instance the reference to Gibbon in the definition. He wrote the massive Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that was one of the influences the American Founding Fathers.

 

Boys can see the context of the word and see the wide and deep influence it had in England.

 

This context is neccessary for "Knowledge" of Manhood and Virility. How can one know what manhood or virility without knowing its opposite? In the philosophy of paideia (education), to not know the opposite is to not know the positive. And this really questions, the leadership of the BSA if this modality is not presented!

 

If this word was important for the times of Lord Baden-Powell, maybe we should be able to see this word used several times now in forthcoming Boy Scout handbooks and Field Manuals. In the paideia of manhood, how can one NOT know the opposite?

 

How can one not see America in the following excerpt?

 

1612 BACON Greatness Kingd., Ess. 239 In a slothfull peace both courages will effeminate, and manners corrupt.

 

 

(This message has been edited by WHEELER)

[Hunt]

Do you think spending so much time in the library reading the dictionary is a masculine pursuit?

[WHEELER]

The following quotes are from Hunt from the thread, "On Effeminacy". 

The first post in this thread shows how a little bit of education, linked to a willingness to believe in conspiracies, can lead a person astray. In fact, there is a scholarly dispute (with political overtones) over what the word "malakoi" means in 1 Cor. 6:9. [Tune out now if you don't care.] But the dispute isn't over whether it means "effeminate." Pretty much everybody knowledgeable about Greek recognizes now that this was a bad translation. There are three main lines of thought: first, that it means "soft" as in morally weak (the most literal meaning), second, that it is paired with another word to condemn all homosexual activity, and third, that it is intended to condemn specific sexual activity (a type of prostitution). I don't find any of the arguments overwhelmingly persuasive, because there aren't enough contemporary sources to be sure. But to build some arcane theory on this about how a plot to promote "effeminacy" is undermining society (and the Boy Scouts) is just silly.

I don't want to waste more time on the substance of this, but I'll make a point. If you want to find out what a Greek word in the Bible means, you don't just look in Cruden's Concordance and go on a random quote hunt among the Church Fathers. You actually have to do some research on what current scholars think about it. That's what I did (all on the Internet, by the way)--and it helps to know some Greek. Maybe another way of putting this is that access to information is not the same as understanding it or being able to put it into context. A real education, provided by good teachers, is necessary for that. Hunt

 

 First, he tells me that there is some scholary dispute about the meaning.  The Church Fathers I quoted didn't have a problem understanding it.  Then that it pertains to some kind of "sexual activity".   And that I have no contemporary sources.

Furthermore, he tells me that I need to find out on what "modern scholars" think.  What "to get their political correctness" definition?

 

I pull up 74 references for the word "effeminate" and then he accuses me of spending too much time in the library.  He can't make up his mind.  I give him 500 years of references and the English had no problem.  Gibbon and Bacon don't look confused on the meaning of the word.  "Effeminate" is not about any sexual activity it is from the Latin meaning "out-of-woman".

To Mr. Evmori, the reason you tell me to blow it out my ear is because you don't what anything to undermine your socialistic influence in the BSA.  Aren't we about knowledge and truth?  I would think every boy and man would want a clear definition of the term "effeminate".  What's ur problem Evmore?  Afraid, someone might stop being effeminate?  Realize that the BSA movement is effeminizing boys, acclimating them to the leadership of women?  Huh?

It is a sad day in the BSA.

[Hunt]

Your whole tirade began with a discussion of what a Greek word translated as "effeminate" in the KJV means. We all KNOW what effeminate means in English. Your quotation of an English dictionary was beside the point and a waste of time.

 

Let me be as kind and as helpful as possible: can you make a cogent argument about how the current BSA program feminizes boys, and how it should be changed? The number of times the Handbook uses "man" is not probative of this. What manly virtues are not being taught? What feminine virtues are being taught in their place? Can you set out such an argument without quoting anybody? If you can't make such an argument--if you can't at least try--I will conclude that you're just trolling, that you have no real interest or connection to Scouting, and that nobody should bother reading your posts any more.

[WHEELER]

There is some dispute of the word malakoi as used by St. Paul in I Cor. 6.9. Malakoi means soft or effeminate. Others contend that it means boy prostitutes.

 

The word Malakoi appears in Matthew 11:8 and at Luke 7:25.

 

These are the words of Jesus at verse 8:

 

Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in SOFT rainment? Behold those who wear SOFT rainment are in kings houses.

 

Did Jesus and the writers of Matthew and Luke mean a man clothed in boy prostitute clothes. Behold those who wear boy prostitute rainment are found in kings houses.

 

Strongs concordance say malakoi means soft or effeminate.

 

Obviously, it is clear that the use of the word malakoi by St. Paul in the letter to the Corinthians is consistent with the use in the two gospels.

 

Malakoi was a common Greek term meaning men who were effeminate.

 

Again, the translator of the Septuagint, 250 years before the gospels uses the word Malakoi.

 

Prov. 26.22 The words of the cunning knaves are soft

 

Soft here in the Greek is MALAKOI. Here again, the word

over 250 years is still in consistent use.

 

The Septuagint uses the word andreyinon man-woman to describe effeminates also. The English word androgyny comes from this Greek.

 

Prov 18.8 Fear casts down the slothful; and the souls of the effeminate(androyinon) shall hunger.

 

Prov 19.15 Cowardice possesses the effeminate (androyinon) man.

 

To be Soft is to be Effeminate. Androgyny is effeminacy. Socialism seeks in its equality, syncretism of the sexes. Socialist modality is androgyny.

 

What the Boy Scouts really do is Androgynize with the syncretism of mixing the genders.

 

[Hunt]

I rest my case. Wheeler's a troll. I won't be responding to any more of his nonsense, and I suggest others do the same so he'll get bored and go bother people on some other forum.

[firstpusk]

Nailed it. Bumps.

[SR540Beaver]

yawn.....meow